Ah this has been the easiest to understand and most enjoyable overview of the MiSTer to date. I should have known Clint would not let us down. And man that woodgrain looked great.
The woodgrain is _amazing_. I mean, sure, they absolutely knew who they were sending it to but even with that aside, it _actually_ looks _really_ good. At least in the video. I'm impressed.
I did my postdoc on FPGA implementations and I take my hat off to these people! Even with relatively modern tools it's not a trivial thing to implement someone else's architecture.
luckily we have some very dedicated folks from all across the world who are constantly working on these non-trivial tasks. the beauty of open source means that as technology progresses and we get more capable hardware at better price points, this work can be brought forward to future iterations of the project also. looking forward to open-source portable devices able to leverage FPGA system cores especially, with breakouts to connect to standard displays if desired, of course ^-^
I totally second this. I've done my fair share of hardware/FPGA development over the years, and what is on offer from the MiSTer community is nothing short of awe-inspiring.
Is there a better IDE then Quartus Altera? I had to use it in uni and it felt so janky I preferred editing the files on a notepad app (Kate) and just compiling them there
MiSTer has desperately needed a more "consoleized" version for years, so it's great to see people making something convenient and tidy like this rather than the traditional "squid" setup. I don't think I'll be trading in my passively cooled aluminium case any time soon as size is another factor, but hopefully the multisystem gets more people involved who were perhaps put off by needing to source all the bits of hardware from different sellers.
I like the multisystem board but the 3D printed case is not for me. Mister is such a cool project it really needs something higher quality than a 3D print case. I really hope someone makes a case for it out of higher quality materials.
@@siskavard I'm waiting for the new aluminum case coming out in 2022 from MiSTerAddons. The shape is more basic than the multisystem, but its metal and you can put a 2.5" hard drive inside.
@@NirnBootMod Tbh given the price of micro SD cards now, I'm not sure what the rationale would be for using a hard drive with MiSTer. You'd be limited to USB 2 speeds anyway, and would likely need to switch to a more powerful AC adapter.
@@siskavard I like that the 3d print file is available. The quality of Clint's printed case wasn't great, but a dedicated printing hobbyist could make that case look real nice.
I think some of the British TH-camrs are impacting Clint -- I can't blame him -- I've started calling things "Fiddly" and "Piece of Kit" myself, as well as beginning tasks saying "Right!"
It's interesting to see just how much of a renaissance SCART is living thanks to retrogaming - a European video standard with surprising capabilities now living on in the digital age thanks to these machines.
@@trendybistro Yeah, until FPGA has a clear advantage is just a hobbyist thing and won't truly replace emulation when your PC can play literally everything under the sun.
@@trendybistro my computer far exceeds that spec, and I still prefer to use original hardware or the mister. It's a lot more of a pain in the ass to run my PC to a 15kHz monitor / TV for starters, and this little box is infinitely more portable to boot. Emulation is great, but this kind of project is the true future of 100% accurate classic gaming preservation
I can't believe the market is big enough that stuff like this can even come to fruition. There's a whole world of enthusiasts out there totally off my radar. I love it!
I found RMC based on a recommendation you made years ago, when Neil had a few thousand subs. I'm really happy to see his success, since he's such a nice dude who really puts the work in.
Funny enough, Galaga is the game I use to test emulation latency. Watching you buzz all the incoming bugs was very satisfying and gives me a lot of hope for the system.
Wow. I didn't even know the technology to replicate the architecture of old consoles and PCs existed. This is wild! I'm so impressed. I'd never heard of MiSTer before but I sure want one now! I bet they will be really hard to come by too. Looks amazing!
The tech has been around for a long time. The only issue has been cost and legality. It's cheaper and more legal to emulate the hardware than to replicate it in newer hardware.
I don't feel bad missing out on MiSTer right now since they just keep improving. Someday I'll get one and it won't be one of those things where later revisions are cut down. Full PS1 and Saturn capability will be awesome
I mean, even if MiSTer didnt get any new cores its incredible for what it already has. And you probably wont get more advanced systems than PSX and Saturn. And it has every other console up to that point.
I have a MiSTer setup already and love it, but I'll have to give some serious thought to the Multisystem - I love the form factor way more than the generic 'MiSTer tower' that my current setup has.
I plan on getting one once I've saved up enough. The fact that most of the hard work has been done and it gives a complete setup means the price of it(about $400 aud) is well worth it for what it's capable of.
I've always found the best stage to gauge input latency is Battletoads on NES. The second to last stage, Clinger Winger, pretty much is impossible with any sort of input latency. Always was a good gauge for me, plus it's a super fun stage.
I hated that game as a kid... Precisely for what you mentioned, it takes skill and I had none. I just stuck to Mario 1 and 3 and still could never beat either. 😆
For me it's being able to perform a hyper knee in Double Dragon 2. It was the first thing I tried when I got my MiSTer and when I could perform it successfully over and over again I sold my Raspberry Pi.
I just loaded up the Gutsman level from Mega Man 1. It isn't as good of a gauge since you can adapt to the lag if you're good enough. But it let me know how much adapting I needed to do.
As someone who is outside of the 'emulation scene' and therefore unfamiliar with terminology, I'll admit that when I saw the thumbnail of this system and the acronym 'FPGA', I honestly thought that this was some kind of golfing game system! The front even looks like a sensor where you would swing your club lol
@@j0s1v exactly. Emulation has always been free since the mid 90s. If the emulator your using is janky and is 27 years old the experience will be bad. If the emulator your using is refined and coded well, your experience will be amazing. 🙂
I've got a batch 1 MMS preorder which I'm eagerly awaiting... you've not helped my impatience, Clint! Great overview, and I'm going to have to get some woodgrain for mine now.
Can I ask you, is this due to better emulation performance than say, retroarch on the PC? Or is it due to nostalgia? As this does look very interesting 👍
@@mwidenst Better emulation I feel. It feels more accurate which I'm putting down to the low latency. It is better playing on a dedicated device than just a PC or laptop too, but the low latency I think makes a big difference especially now as I'm an old, broken wreck of a man!
Question! What is the latest system you can reliably emulate on this? Can it do PS2, PSP, and GameCube? Any similar devices I’ve ever purchased/tried just choke when trying to run them.
@@Spacemutiny I don't think it's likely to do any of those systems any time soon. A Playstation core is nearing completion and a Saturn core is in progress.
I'd like one setup in a mechanical keyboard case, like an Amiga or Commodore 64 or other 8-16 bit home computer. I've been planning on building one once I've moved and have the deskspace for it.
good freaking luck, looks like it's sold out everywhere. or I mean back-ordered, or as they put it, "Please note - This is Pre-order Batch #2. Expected shipping date is Q2 2022. Initially only the MMS & cases will be available. Deluxe kits for batch #2 will be available in '22 to ensure we have a ready supply of DE10's in stock for them." AKA you might get one "in march of 2023 if you give us the money now." *after the obligatory by this point, many delays.
@@tommytomthms5 Well, you can't expect a small company to work as a corporate electronic factory and mass produce boards for few millions of retro gamers. They need money now to pay other company to print PCBs and get all the parts for the device. And they they have to assembly it themselves or pay others to do it for them. You wouldn't want to invest thousands of $ into something that you may not sell and then stuck with a ton of boards to collect dust...
I am so happy I finally remembered to watch this video cause I forgot this company is from the UK so that I do not have to deal with the og MiSTER and it's limited sellers in Europe. I am so hyped to play arcade games on my C1 and 13" PVM
What a beautiful project. May have to look into building one for myself. I've heard talk of the project in the background but I had no idea they'd made so much progress.
Geez FPGA implementations. This is a game changer. I can’t even begin to describe how powerful is this. This is like changing your software but on hardware level. Which in the end means a much better performance. Implications is massive
And the Ambernic retro emulation handhelds, they even have a couple communities making quite nice custom firmware/operating systems for them. I've been having a blast playing my RG351MP, it's awesome having a pocket sized handheld with so much emulation power and a metal case so I really don't need to worry about bringing it to work to make breaks far more interesting
I'm hoping the expansion port can be used for things like cartridge readers. As convenient as having all your games on a single drive is, the hassle of legally getting them there is something I need to be in the right mood to do, and usually in bursts. The added ease of just throwing your cartridge on (and maybe having options to dump it then and there) would make this a very mouth-watering temptation next time the money is in my favor.
FPGA technology is super rad; I have an FPGA chip in my audio interface that allows for analogue hardware emulation for things like preamps, compressors, tape machines, you name it. I had no idea they were being used for anything else but it totally makes sense that they would be used for this.
@@GoldenPickaxe UAD and Antelope are the only two companies I know that does this, but there might be others out there, but those are the two main ones I can think of. You said you were a composer, so I don't think their audio interfaces are going to be much use to you unless you also mix and master your own music; they make plugins that run in your DAW that utilize their FPGA chips to emulate analogue hardware for tools that you'd use exclusively for mixing audio and I haven't seen any that emulate analogue instruments like synthesizers. They're also pretty expensive units and much of that money is going into how good the quality of the preamps and converters are, so if you record 0 live audio they'll be especially useless for you given the price. They'll usually bundle a bunch of plugins with a unit but each plugin runs on average at about $100 and there are tons of useful plugins that they don't bundle with your gear. But if that's what you need they're pretty essential tools for a home studio, and are extremely cheap compared to owning the real thing.
I was wondering when Clint would make a video covering MiSTer FPGA ;-) I am a satisfied owner of a MiSTer, it's a great system. For me it's an all-in-one retro device, I am discovering new games and systems every day. I purchased mine from ManuFerHi, a spain based manufacturer, fully assembled, with case and SD Card included. I use it on CRT TV (via SCART RGB), CRT VGA monitor and HDMI LCD, it's great on all of them.
same here. MiSTer was an absolute game changer when I first tried it, compared to emulation I've dabbled with in the past. having everything just run at original speeds and latency right out of the box is quite refreshing, compared to needing to do per-game hacks like runahead on traditional software emulation. I've recorded many experiences with it on my channel to try and share some of that magic with folks who feel the same way you expressed.
This is amazing, I've been watching the Mister system for awhile but I just didn't want to have a big sandwich of boards, but THIS on the other hand I am definitely sold now! Thank you for showing this!
This is one of those youtube channels that I watch where I just have to admit I don't know shit about shit. I can't do computers, I couldn't program "hello world" with an entire team of MIT level tutors. But for some reason I just nod and smile and watch 58 million of these. What am I even getting out of this? WHY AM I SO ENTERTAINED?!
oh hell, i absolutely need to grab one of these when i have the money. i could even print my own case in glow in the dark filament (yes i already know it chews through nozzles, that’s why i have spares) edit: if i do the case myself i could absolutely afford this… this never happens, lmao
@@whoeusbsknsi i just put it there because i don’t need to be told that glow in the dark filament chews up nozzles after a year of printing a lot of glow in the dark stuff and already replacing a nozzle. it really isn’t that deep, and you don’t have to go out of your way to belittle someone who just wanted to avoid having people with good intentions from wasting any of their time giving advice on this to someone who doesn’t need it after typing the original comment and immediately worrying that i’d get more replies/attention than i could handle (it’s happened before) to go out of your way and call a woman who posts a simple comment a bitch and accuse her of trying to be rude when she’s really just not in need of the same advice 400 times in one calendar year makes you seem pretty insecure though
@@ExperimentIV lmfao I for one totally understand why you would include such a statement, it’s saves from every single comment being the same exact thing over and over and over and over.
yeah and with the chip shortage you can have it in your hands by march! no, not this march... I meant march 2023... [estimated from adding another delay to the date listed on the site of Q2/Q3 2022, I say more realistically Q1 of 2023]
I was having a really hard time calming down after a sobbing panic attack after a bad day at work. I got in the car and this popped up and as soon as I heard the LGR noises and music I started feeling better lol thank you for these videos
Really impressive. It is hard to believe it works so good, and how much work went into it. Price is also really decent. I am sure an upgraded version, will come one day, which is even better.
The case looks so fantastic with the wood grain! I was very interested to hear your thoughts on AO486 -- it's actually come quite a way from where it was maybe a year and a half ago. The MT32pi is a nice add on as well, though with the new Pi Zero 2 just coming out I'm expecting an improved revision. And Neil has said something about a card add-on version for the Multisystem?
an important note about the pi zero 2, is that mt32-pi currently has a number of issues when used with that device. best to stick with one of the recommendations from the mt32-pi wiki like the pi 3a, currently.
***Really*** tempted by one of these! Genuine retro systems are going for crazy prices nowadays, not to mention the problems of storing and hooking them all up.
I really love this approach to MiSTer. I much prefer this form factor over the more common "brick". Oh and Neil from RMC - The Cave deserves 100k new subscribers after this fabulous piece of kit!
This was just the relaxation I needed after many hours at the local DMV. Thanks Clint for many years of relaxing retro antics. I tried thinking of a half dozen words that start with the letter R after relaxing retro... but I'm too tired.
Oh yeah, that looks really nice! I haven't looked into how this works, but it seems like an ideal future proof solution to archiving games if the core code can be easily transitioned to future FPGA hardware.
there are also two-player gameboy and gameboy advance cores, so you can experience those system link games on the same screen, or one person on CRT while the other is on HDMI if you choose. ^-^
@@WalrusFPGA that is admittedly really cool, basically turns the game into a co-op experience, at least as much as possible without modding the game itself
@@UNSCPILOT lots of co-op and vs experiences to be had there. i have some videos from the two-player GBA core for co-op doom 2 and vs in V-Rally 3, also the ending of my Stuntman GBA video has the vs mode on the two-player core.
When I saw the woodgrain, I was literally shocked and at the same time equally touched. You have made a real legacy in the tech world Clint. Further on, all woodgrain stuff won't be associated with 70/80s tech. It will be associated with LGR.
I love my Raspberry Pi 4 + RetroPie. Got a little metal case for the Pi and Off I go playing Dreamcast and PSX without issues. The case even converted the Mini-HDMI to HDMI for me. Bonus. And it's still fits into the palm of my hand. It may not be the "best" emulation but for what I want, it's great. And I get to have a LOT of fun.
Now that AMD has acquired Xilinx, I'm sure we're going to see a new generation of even more powerful low cost FPGAs, possibly configured with x86 cores
It'll be interesting to see what this community will do with those, and I hope AMD will do what they can to support it to some degree, much like how they've been supporting the Linux community where they can
One really exciting benefit to FPGA "hardware emulation" is the possibility of overclocking to smooth out sluggish framerates that existed on the original hardware. For example, being able to run a Neo Geo core at higher than 12Mhz can do wonders for the framerate in Metal Slug games.
Just another perfect review and also of a super system :) Thank you. My mms is almost at my doorstep now. Hope to see some more mms stuff in the future :)
For how to name what FPGA does - in the world of semiconductors, "emulation" is normally the term used for testing the design on FPGAs. Running a simple program which simulates the hardware is called, ofc, simulation. So only in non-professional world these terms are interchangeable. All the so-called 'emulators' for PC, are simply simulators. For big chips, there are real emulators - huge, expensive racks which have hundreds to thousands of FPGA chips linked together. The synthesized hardware description (Register Transfer Logic, RTL) is loaded into them. This is how chips are tested before they become chips.
Absolutely love the project. Only little thing I have with it is the 3D printing itself, it doesn’t look that good (as in layer-line issues and such), which makes it very nice they provide to model to print yourself!
It just needs to be finished. It's so common, but I'm still always kind of surprised at how often people use 3D prints straight off the printer. At least some sanding and maybe a finishing layer make them look so much better.
@@sweaterfish6311 Well yes for a hobby, for production I totally get that that would take way too much time. But what I’m seeing is that the printing itself is not very good. Not super important, just a thing I noticed.
Back in 1988 I asked my dad what it would take to have a magic box that could be an NES or Sega at the flip of a switch, and he explained that you could put all the hardware for both systems into one box, but that in the future, there would be hardware that could reconfigure itself to fit the circumstances. He was describing FPGA's :) Pop was the smartest person I ever met :)
Freakin love the MiSTer. I have to get a new one though. Take care of that micro USB guys, the mini USB doesn't work for controllers and the likes. Plus, PSX core is up and running games!
@SNES Nes There isn't one yet, but there is a Sega Saturn one that's working. It's got a lot of graphical glitches but it's still in development after all. The PSX core is also in public beta. th-cam.com/video/bo1GgF6X-7A/w-d-xo.html check this out.
Cool! I use an original MIST (the one you mentioned at 13:30) in an Amiga case, ideal for that purpose, especially because of the vga port, which is standard, and the cheaper price. Oh, and it has a midi and a ps2 interface as standard, additional to two controller ports to use original controllers/hardware with your core (amiga, atari, c64, pcengine, nes, snes, you name it) for even less lag! but this is nice, too! 😁👍 (PS: the Mist has a tad less power than the Mister, but it comes with a neat little metal case - that you can remove if you want to use the device in another enclosure or you just use it as a little console, no assembly required, everything’s neat and tidy - and doesn’t need active cooling, which is a huge bonus for me 😄)
Love my Mister. I can definitely tell a difference in input latency vs playing NES/SNES/Genesis games on my Switch. Still hope to eventually get an Analogue Pocket (if they’re ever available) but MisterFPGA is an excellent substitute for now.
I've been interested in going MiSTer for a while but haven't set aside the money and time. This looks like a great deal and keeps things a lot cleaner than previous options. Time to find out how hard it is to get hands on a DE-10 during these interesting times.
The DE10-Nano has just had a price increase, depending on where you are in the world you *may* still be able to get them at the lower price, i.e. Mouser in the UK has them on pre-order for £137 if you're prepared to wait until the end of January. Now is definitely the time to buy IMHO as the price may go up further.
Makes perfect sense, Give yourself more credit , you are highly comprehensible to the sophomore and the freshmen, well done ( Love the positive yet easy going way of the narration).
Computers console and arcade machines all use logic gates in their cpu's/gpu's etc. And, xor ,nand and so on. Logic gates are simply directing electrical signs depending on certain conditions depending on the gate. String these gates together and you have a processor. So because the fpga's gates are programmable all you have to do is to tell it to mimic say a NES's arrangement of logic gates.
I had already purchased the analog I/O expansion board and ram module and jury-rigged/designed some 3d printed mounting components to stuff my Mister into a HP T5700 thin client case - which leaves a little to be desired but i'm otherwise more or less happy with - by the time the Mister MultiSystem was announced, so I would have a hard time justifying buying into it now. Based on this review, though, I think I would recommend this setup to anybody that showed some interest in the Mister as an easier way to get started.
Man, FPGAs have really been doing great things for retro gaming. I still have my old consoles, but have been loving the newer flash carts and Everdrives, and especially the FPGA stuff like the SD2SNES and MegaSD. It's great being able to play SegaCD games without having to hook up my SegaCD, or deal with the anxiety of worrying about wearing out aging disc drives and lasers. And I've been enjoying Retroarch on my PlayStation Classic, which is kind of like a Lazy Gamer's RaspberryPi. I've thought about trying a Mister set up, as like you mention, some of the emulation isn't perfect, especially with MAME, but have been kind of intimidated by the complexity, and I'm lazy. But this seems pretty cool. A shame they don't offer that woodgrain finish for everyone. Maybe I could 3D print my own case in N64-style Atomic Purple...
Ah this has been the easiest to understand and most enjoyable overview of the MiSTer to date.
I should have known Clint would not let us down. And man that woodgrain looked great.
Thank you! Tried my best to keep it understandable.
I fully agree. LTT made quite hash of it in comparison, by being terrible at explaining what FPGA is.
The woodgrain is _amazing_. I mean, sure, they absolutely knew who they were sending it to but even with that aside, it _actually_ looks _really_ good. At least in the video. I'm impressed.
@@Unholy_Louie th-cam.com/video/eDg5c_-eUr8/w-d-xo.html
That's the one. :)
@@Unholy_Louie th-cam.com/video/eDg5c_-eUr8/w-d-xo.html this one
I did my postdoc on FPGA implementations and I take my hat off to these people! Even with relatively modern tools it's not a trivial thing to implement someone else's architecture.
luckily we have some very dedicated folks from all across the world who are constantly working on these non-trivial tasks. the beauty of open source means that as technology progresses and we get more capable hardware at better price points, this work can be brought forward to future iterations of the project also. looking forward to open-source portable devices able to leverage FPGA system cores especially, with breakouts to connect to standard displays if desired, of course ^-^
Especially the quirks of the bus system between the chips.
I totally second this. I've done my fair share of hardware/FPGA development over the years, and what is on offer from the MiSTer community is nothing short of awe-inspiring.
Is there a better IDE then Quartus Altera? I had to use it in uni and it felt so janky I preferred editing the files on a notepad app (Kate) and just compiling them there
I'm doing my senior thesis on usage of FPGAs in mobile devices. Doing all my testing on an Arty Z7-20 with a Zynq-7000 chip
MiSTer has desperately needed a more "consoleized" version for years, so it's great to see people making something convenient and tidy like this rather than the traditional "squid" setup. I don't think I'll be trading in my passively cooled aluminium case any time soon as size is another factor, but hopefully the multisystem gets more people involved who were perhaps put off by needing to source all the bits of hardware from different sellers.
I like the multisystem board but the 3D printed case is not for me. Mister is such a cool project it really needs something higher quality than a 3D print case. I really hope someone makes a case for it out of higher quality materials.
i said from the start that people were waiting on a console-style case for the project
@@siskavard I'm waiting for the new aluminum case coming out in 2022 from MiSTerAddons. The shape is more basic than the multisystem, but its metal and you can put a 2.5" hard drive inside.
@@NirnBootMod Tbh given the price of micro SD cards now, I'm not sure what the rationale would be for using a hard drive with MiSTer. You'd be limited to USB 2 speeds anyway, and would likely need to switch to a more powerful AC adapter.
@@siskavard I like that the 3d print file is available. The quality of Clint's printed case wasn't great, but a dedicated printing hobbyist could make that case look real nice.
I think some of the British TH-camrs are impacting Clint -- I can't blame him -- I've started calling things "Fiddly" and "Piece of Kit" myself, as well as beginning tasks saying "Right!"
I think Clint has secretly been to the UK and done some meet and greets. 😬
It's interesting to see just how much of a renaissance SCART is living thanks to retrogaming - a European video standard with surprising capabilities now living on in the digital age thanks to these machines.
*laughs In European*
Or just buy a 1k computer and play everything ever shown on this channel infinitely better.
@@trendybistro Yeah, until FPGA has a clear advantage is just a hobbyist thing and won't truly replace emulation when your PC can play literally everything under the sun.
@@trendybistro sometimes having a piece of hardware is just more fun...
@@trendybistro my computer far exceeds that spec, and I still prefer to use original hardware or the mister. It's a lot more of a pain in the ass to run my PC to a 15kHz monitor / TV for starters, and this little box is infinitely more portable to boot.
Emulation is great, but this kind of project is the true future of 100% accurate classic gaming preservation
it cheers me up quite alot to see Emulation going this professional.
good nostalgia is the one that was exactly as good as you remember it.
I can't believe the market is big enough that stuff like this can even come to fruition. There's a whole world of enthusiasts out there totally off my radar. I love it!
I found RMC based on a recommendation you made years ago, when Neil had a few thousand subs. I'm really happy to see his success, since he's such a nice dude who really puts the work in.
Funny enough, Galaga is the game I use to test emulation latency. Watching you buzz all the incoming bugs was very satisfying and gives me a lot of hope for the system.
I really hope LGR unearth's some weird Christmas themed software so we can get a Christmas special this year, they make me so nostalgic.
It's not Christmas without an LGR christmasware video
I just thought that yesterday!
Last year was pretty disappointing, he only uploaded two videos iirc. The third one was a non christmas vid.
@@NotApplicable555 Er, what? LGR uploaded nearly 40 videos in the previous year.
Alright, that’s legitimately the coolest hobbiest engineering project I’ve seen since the Pi, and thank you for introducing me to it.
It’s way better
I love my MiSTer FPGA. I was considering getting this at some point to upgrade it.
They made you a wood grain version! This colab knows how to do marketing.
Wow. I didn't even know the technology to replicate the architecture of old consoles and PCs existed. This is wild! I'm so impressed. I'd never heard of MiSTer before but I sure want one now! I bet they will be really hard to come by too. Looks amazing!
The tech has been around for a long time. The only issue has been cost and legality. It's cheaper and more legal to emulate the hardware than to replicate it in newer hardware.
The USB ports that get concealed under the case, to allow for dongles to be hidden, is a very nice touch.
The one on the left is USB, the USB 3.0 connector on the right is for SNAKs, not real USB devices
I don't feel bad missing out on MiSTer right now since they just keep improving. Someday I'll get one and it won't be one of those things where later revisions are cut down. Full PS1 and Saturn capability will be awesome
I mean, even if MiSTer didnt get any new cores its incredible for what it already has. And you probably wont get more advanced systems than PSX and Saturn. And it has every other console up to that point.
I have a MiSTer setup already and love it, but I'll have to give some serious thought to the Multisystem - I love the form factor way more than the generic 'MiSTer tower' that my current setup has.
I'm enjoying watching the MiSTer do the rounds of my favourite youtubers.
The MiSTer's use of FPGA is such a cool idea!
Solid crossover! You’ve gotta go visit his museum when you can!
I plan on getting one once I've saved up enough. The fact that most of the hard work has been done and it gives a complete setup means the price of it(about $400 aud) is well worth it for what it's capable of.
I've always found the best stage to gauge input latency is Battletoads on NES. The second to last stage, Clinger Winger, pretty much is impossible with any sort of input latency. Always was a good gauge for me, plus it's a super fun stage.
This is why the Rare Replay version of it is virtually impossible to complete without constant rewinding.
Thats a good game, also Mike Tysons Punch out fighting Mike Tyson is a good indicator of input latency as well.
I hated that game as a kid... Precisely for what you mentioned, it takes skill and I had none.
I just stuck to Mario 1 and 3 and still could never beat either. 😆
For me it's being able to perform a hyper knee in Double Dragon 2. It was the first thing I tried when I got my MiSTer and when I could perform it successfully over and over again I sold my Raspberry Pi.
I just loaded up the Gutsman level from Mega Man 1. It isn't as good of a gauge since you can adapt to the lag if you're good enough. But it let me know how much adapting I needed to do.
This is exactly what I've been looking for. Awesome video as always LGR! Simply awesome.
RMC! Thanks for shouting this out for Neil! You rock Clint.
As someone who is outside of the 'emulation scene' and therefore unfamiliar with terminology, I'll admit that when I saw the thumbnail of this system and the acronym 'FPGA', I honestly thought that this was some kind of golfing game system! The front even looks like a sensor where you would swing your club lol
Thank you for an excellent review and giving this hardware expansion kit the respect it deserves 🙌
The case is like a beautiful mixture of an Atari and PC Engine.
Every time I see a video on this thing, I wish I could justify splurging and getting one. It's a beautiful system, and just so cool.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade Emulation is free, and well enough.
@@j0s1v exactly. Emulation has always been free since the mid 90s. If the emulator your using is janky and is 27 years old the experience will be bad.
If the emulator your using is refined and coded well, your experience will be amazing. 🙂
I love my MiSTer! The MT32pi is awesome along with it too! 😎
Just bought into the MiSTer. Maybe one day I'll buy that console version. I plan to have it hooked to my PVM
I've got a batch 1 MMS preorder which I'm eagerly awaiting... you've not helped my impatience, Clint! Great overview, and I'm going to have to get some woodgrain for mine now.
FPGAs are a really game-changing technology. I have a cartridge for my C64 which has an FPGA core and can emulate huge ranges of hardware.
Delighted with this review Clint. I've had an MMS for a few months now testing it and it's wonderful. It's so much better than software emulation.
Can I ask you, is this due to better emulation performance than say, retroarch on the PC? Or is it due to nostalgia? As this does look very interesting 👍
@@mwidenst Better emulation I feel. It feels more accurate which I'm putting down to the low latency. It is better playing on a dedicated device than just a PC or laptop too, but the low latency I think makes a big difference especially now as I'm an old, broken wreck of a man!
Question! What is the latest system you can reliably emulate on this? Can it do PS2, PSP, and GameCube? Any similar devices I’ve ever purchased/tried just choke when trying to run them.
@@Spacemutiny I don't think it's likely to do any of those systems any time soon. A Playstation core is nearing completion and a Saturn core is in progress.
@@DaveVelociraptor ah ok thanks, so this is for 8 and 16 bit systems primarily. I’m def still going to look into getting one. Seems very cool.
MiSTer is the best, I've been waiting for a dedicated "console" version to get a second one. STOKED
I'd like one setup in a mechanical keyboard case, like an Amiga or Commodore 64 or other 8-16 bit home computer. I've been planning on building one once I've moved and have the deskspace for it.
good freaking luck, looks like it's sold out everywhere. or I mean back-ordered, or as they put it, "Please note - This is Pre-order Batch #2. Expected shipping date is Q2 2022. Initially only the MMS & cases will be available. Deluxe kits for batch #2 will be available in '22 to ensure we have a ready supply of DE10's in stock for them."
AKA you might get one "in march of 2023 if you give us the money now." *after the obligatory by this point, many delays.
@@tommytomthms5 Well, you can't expect a small company to work as a corporate electronic factory and mass produce boards for few millions of retro gamers. They need money now to pay other company to print PCBs and get all the parts for the device. And they they have to assembly it themselves or pay others to do it for them. You wouldn't want to invest thousands of $ into something that you may not sell and then stuck with a ton of boards to collect dust...
I am so happy I finally remembered to watch this video cause I forgot this company is from the UK so that I do not have to deal with the og MiSTER and it's limited sellers in Europe. I am so hyped to play arcade games on my C1 and 13" PVM
I put in for mine can't wait till next winter when I have one.
What a beautiful project. May have to look into building one for myself. I've heard talk of the project in the background but I had no idea they'd made so much progress.
the big problem now is that DE-10 prices are getting much higher
Geez FPGA implementations. This is a game changer. I can’t even begin to describe how powerful is this. This is like changing your software but on hardware level. Which in the end means a much better performance. Implications is massive
reviewing new hardware is now what retro computing is all about - love it! (love to see a review of the MEGA65)
And the Ambernic retro emulation handhelds, they even have a couple communities making quite nice custom firmware/operating systems for them.
I've been having a blast playing my RG351MP, it's awesome having a pocket sized handheld with so much emulation power and a metal case so I really don't need to worry about bringing it to work to make breaks far more interesting
I'm hoping the expansion port can be used for things like cartridge readers. As convenient as having all your games on a single drive is, the hassle of legally getting them there is something I need to be in the right mood to do, and usually in bursts. The added ease of just throwing your cartridge on (and maybe having options to dump it then and there) would make this a very mouth-watering temptation next time the money is in my favor.
FPGA technology is super rad; I have an FPGA chip in my audio interface that allows for analogue hardware emulation for things like preamps, compressors, tape machines, you name it. I had no idea they were being used for anything else but it totally makes sense that they would be used for this.
Yeah, they're quite magical, can be reprogrammed to almost any logical hardware
I cant wait to get one of these! Does the Multisystem board 'require' the DE10 nano?
imagine when classic synths get implemented in fpga
i didn't know there were FPGA analogue audio implementations and as a composer i'd love to know where you got one
@@GoldenPickaxe UAD and Antelope are the only two companies I know that does this, but there might be others out there, but those are the two main ones I can think of. You said you were a composer, so I don't think their audio interfaces are going to be much use to you unless you also mix and master your own music; they make plugins that run in your DAW that utilize their FPGA chips to emulate analogue hardware for tools that you'd use exclusively for mixing audio and I haven't seen any that emulate analogue instruments like synthesizers. They're also pretty expensive units and much of that money is going into how good the quality of the preamps and converters are, so if you record 0 live audio they'll be especially useless for you given the price. They'll usually bundle a bunch of plugins with a unit but each plugin runs on average at about $100 and there are tons of useful plugins that they don't bundle with your gear. But if that's what you need they're pretty essential tools for a home studio, and are extremely cheap compared to owning the real thing.
I was wondering when Clint would make a video covering MiSTer FPGA ;-)
I am a satisfied owner of a MiSTer, it's a great system. For me it's an all-in-one retro device, I am discovering new games and systems every day. I purchased mine from ManuFerHi, a spain based manufacturer, fully assembled, with case and SD Card included. I use it on CRT TV (via SCART RGB), CRT VGA monitor and HDMI LCD, it's great on all of them.
I've always found the response time or input lag to be very important, some arcade games are nearly unplayable with just 50-100ms lag.
same here. MiSTer was an absolute game changer when I first tried it, compared to emulation I've dabbled with in the past. having everything just run at original speeds and latency right out of the box is quite refreshing, compared to needing to do per-game hacks like runahead on traditional software emulation. I've recorded many experiences with it on my channel to try and share some of that magic with folks who feel the same way you expressed.
mister is GREAT! it aims for cycle accurate "simulation"
that's the benefit to an FPGA approach here, it's as close as you can get to simply building the system anew
This is amazing, I've been watching the Mister system for awhile but I just didn't want to have a big sandwich of boards, but THIS on the other hand I am definitely sold now! Thank you for showing this!
the sandwich is really tiny though, and there are several case designs so it's not just hanging out.
Still this is a great development.
That tate monitor for 1943 just got my heart pumping faster...
Oh man, I've been drooling over these ever since Neil teased these months ago! I really ought to bite the bullet at some point...
Neil is taking over TH-cam.
This is one of those youtube channels that I watch where I just have to admit I don't know shit about shit. I can't do computers, I couldn't program "hello world" with an entire team of MIT level tutors. But for some reason I just nod and smile and watch 58 million of these.
What am I even getting out of this? WHY AM I SO ENTERTAINED?!
oh hell, i absolutely need to grab one of these when i have the money. i could even print my own case in glow in the dark filament (yes i already know it chews through nozzles, that’s why i have spares)
edit: if i do the case myself i could absolutely afford this… this never happens, lmao
@@whoeusbsknsi i just put it there because i don’t need to be told that glow in the dark filament chews up nozzles after a year of printing a lot of glow in the dark stuff and already replacing a nozzle. it really isn’t that deep, and you don’t have to go out of your way to belittle someone who just wanted to avoid having people with good intentions from wasting any of their time giving advice on this to someone who doesn’t need it after typing the original comment and immediately worrying that i’d get more replies/attention than i could handle (it’s happened before)
to go out of your way and call a woman who posts a simple comment a bitch and accuse her of trying to be rude when she’s really just not in need of the same advice 400 times in one calendar year makes you seem pretty insecure though
@@ExperimentIV lmfao I for one totally understand why you would include such a statement, it’s saves from every single comment being the same exact thing over and over and over and over.
@@DrakeDaraitis lmao i appreciate the understanding! i wasn’t trying to be an ass
@@ExperimentIV But I think Daniel was, and he succeeded!
yeah and with the chip shortage you can have it in your hands by march! no, not this march... I meant march 2023... [estimated from adding another delay to the date listed on the site of Q2/Q3 2022, I say more realistically Q1 of 2023]
I like that they simply let the product do the talking for them.
I was having a really hard time calming down after a sobbing panic attack after a bad day at work. I got in the car and this popped up and as soon as I heard the LGR noises and music I started feeling better lol thank you for these videos
Really impressive. It is hard to believe it works so good, and how much work went into it.
Price is also really decent.
I am sure an upgraded version, will come one day, which is even better.
This makes Mister seem wayyyyy more appealing to me
Amazing product and excellent video. Thanks so much for the awesome content as usual!
DOS on the FPGA... What a time to be alive.
The work on creating that PCB is amazing
This is quite cool for a retro gamer… I would love this.
Great to see this gaining some traction. RMC has been my go-to for the past two years since discovering his interview with Jon St. John.
The case looks so fantastic with the wood grain! I was very interested to hear your thoughts on AO486 -- it's actually come quite a way from where it was maybe a year and a half ago. The MT32pi is a nice add on as well, though with the new Pi Zero 2 just coming out I'm expecting an improved revision. And Neil has said something about a card add-on version for the Multisystem?
an important note about the pi zero 2, is that mt32-pi currently has a number of issues when used with that device. best to stick with one of the recommendations from the mt32-pi wiki like the pi 3a, currently.
I love my MiSTer, but basically never use the ao486 core. It doesn't make a ton of sense if you have a modern PC with dosbox and Munt IMO.
***Really*** tempted by one of these!
Genuine retro systems are going for crazy prices nowadays, not to mention the problems of storing and hooking them all up.
I really love this approach to MiSTer. I much prefer this form factor over the more common "brick".
Oh and Neil from RMC - The Cave deserves 100k new subscribers after this fabulous piece of kit!
This was just the relaxation I needed after many hours at the local DMV. Thanks Clint for many years of relaxing retro antics. I tried thinking of a half dozen words that start with the letter R after relaxing retro... but I'm too tired.
One console to rule them all
... and in the mancave bind them! =)
@MrDjBigZ Shame to miss out on all the lootboxes from modern games.
Oh yeah, that looks really nice! I haven't looked into how this works, but it seems like an ideal future proof solution to archiving games if the core code can be easily transitioned to future FPGA hardware.
It can indeed, that’s the goal! Should be ideal for future preservation.
@@LGR Awesome!
It already has been, as MiSTer is descended from the MiST project which itself is descended from Minimig hardware.
The Pokémon game looked really good in terms of scaling. I’m impressed.
there are also two-player gameboy and gameboy advance cores, so you can experience those system link games on the same screen, or one person on CRT while the other is on HDMI if you choose. ^-^
@@WalrusFPGA that is admittedly really cool, basically turns the game into a co-op experience, at least as much as possible without modding the game itself
@@UNSCPILOT lots of co-op and vs experiences to be had there. i have some videos from the two-player GBA core for co-op doom 2 and vs in V-Rally 3, also the ending of my Stuntman GBA video has the vs mode on the two-player core.
"LGR Edition", Clint you must be so proud.
The woodgrain is perfect.
Great step into making the MiSTer more accessible and tidying up the setup. Hopefully there will be more to come!
When I saw the woodgrain, I was literally shocked and at the same time equally touched.
You have made a real legacy in the tech world Clint. Further on, all woodgrain stuff won't be associated with 70/80s tech. It will be associated with LGR.
I love my Raspberry Pi 4 + RetroPie. Got a little metal case for the Pi and Off I go playing Dreamcast and PSX without issues. The case even converted the Mini-HDMI to HDMI for me. Bonus. And it's still fits into the palm of my hand. It may not be the "best" emulation but for what I want, it's great. And I get to have a LOT of fun.
Now that AMD has acquired Xilinx, I'm sure we're going to see a new generation of even more powerful low cost
FPGAs, possibly configured with x86 cores
Yay for competition
It'll be interesting to see what this community will do with those, and I hope AMD will do what they can to support it to some degree, much like how they've been supporting the Linux community where they can
Dude I absolutely love this thing!!! I'm just now finding out about this. Thank u!!
One really exciting benefit to FPGA "hardware emulation" is the possibility of overclocking to smooth out sluggish framerates that existed on the original hardware. For example, being able to run a Neo Geo core at higher than 12Mhz can do wonders for the framerate in Metal Slug games.
Great and pleasant as always! I was expecting it after Anthony (LTT) did a Shortcircuit video on the MiSTer.
I still feel weird hearing “Intel Cyclone”…long live Altera. I miss you.
I've played a number of kaizo SMW roms on my mister FPGA and the SMW core for this is so good, no issues with input delays.
love my MiSTer
MiSTer is legit! Just booted mine up and beat the speeder bike level in battle toads. Weird flex, but hey.
By Far the best starting caption yet [Non-Emulated Jazz Music]
When you were talking about the switches being linear and clicky I felt weirdly validated for being a mechanical keyboard nerd!
Just another perfect review and also of a super system :) Thank you. My mms is almost at my doorstep now. Hope to see some more mms stuff in the future :)
For how to name what FPGA does - in the world of semiconductors, "emulation" is normally the term used for testing the design on FPGAs. Running a simple program which simulates the hardware is called, ofc, simulation. So only in non-professional world these terms are interchangeable. All the so-called 'emulators' for PC, are simply simulators.
For big chips, there are real emulators - huge, expensive racks which have hundreds to thousands of FPGA chips linked together. The synthesized hardware description (Register Transfer Logic, RTL) is loaded into them. This is how chips are tested before they become chips.
Don’t have enough time to dedicate to having my own MiSTer but I do enjoy watching people use it
Absolutely love the project. Only little thing I have with it is the 3D printing itself, it doesn’t look that good (as in layer-line issues and such), which makes it very nice they provide to model to print yourself!
It just needs to be finished. It's so common, but I'm still always kind of surprised at how often people use 3D prints straight off the printer. At least some sanding and maybe a finishing layer make them look so much better.
Yeah that case's finish is dog shit.
@@sweaterfish6311 Well yes for a hobby, for production I totally get that that would take way too much time. But what I’m seeing is that the printing itself is not very good. Not super important, just a thing I noticed.
Back in 1988 I asked my dad what it would take to have a magic box that could be an NES or Sega at the flip of a switch, and he explained that you could put all the hardware for both systems into one box, but that in the future, there would be hardware that could reconfigure itself to fit the circumstances. He was describing FPGA's :) Pop was the smartest person I ever met :)
Freakin love the MiSTer. I have to get a new one though. Take care of that micro USB guys, the mini USB doesn't work for controllers and the likes. Plus, PSX core is up and running games!
@SNES Nes There isn't one yet, but there is a Sega Saturn one that's working. It's got a lot of graphical glitches but it's still in development after all. The PSX core is also in public beta.
th-cam.com/video/bo1GgF6X-7A/w-d-xo.html
check this out.
mini usb??
Cool! I use an original MIST (the one you mentioned at 13:30) in an Amiga case, ideal for that purpose, especially because of the vga port, which is standard, and the cheaper price. Oh, and it has a midi and a ps2 interface as standard, additional to two controller ports to use original controllers/hardware with your core (amiga, atari, c64, pcengine, nes, snes, you name it) for even less lag! but this is nice, too! 😁👍 (PS: the Mist has a tad less power than the Mister, but it comes with a neat little metal case - that you can remove if you want to use the device in another enclosure or you just use it as a little console, no assembly required, everything’s neat and tidy - and doesn’t need active cooling, which is a huge bonus for me 😄)
MiSTer's active cooling very rarely kicks in
This was a perfect opportunity to bust out the rotating CRT. That thing and the MiSTer is a TATE match made in heaven!
If only the MiSTer supported that CRT's specific display requirements
@@LGR I thought it would work with a standard 31khz VGA signal. Use forced_scandoubler=1 in the mister.ini.
Rocker switch for the power is definitely a good idea. A nice clean snap to on or off.
theyve gotta make the woodgrain available to the rest of us
Love my Mister. I can definitely tell a difference in input latency vs playing NES/SNES/Genesis games on my Switch. Still hope to eventually get an Analogue Pocket (if they’re ever available) but MisterFPGA is an excellent substitute for now.
is that a tiny Noctua fan?
Yes it's a 40mmx10mm.
Excellent video, and I'm glad to know your opinion on the ao486 core. Hopefully it will keep improving.
LOL non-emulated jazz music!
This is the first new gear I’ve seen in a while that actually looks useful and fun a f. Cool to see an open project done well
I've been interested in going MiSTer for a while but haven't set aside the money and time. This looks like a great deal and keeps things a lot cleaner than previous options. Time to find out how hard it is to get hands on a DE-10 during these interesting times.
The DE10-Nano has just had a price increase, depending on where you are in the world you *may* still be able to get them at the lower price, i.e. Mouser in the UK has them on pre-order for £137 if you're prepared to wait until the end of January. Now is definitely the time to buy IMHO as the price may go up further.
Makes perfect sense, Give yourself more credit , you are highly comprehensible to the sophomore and the freshmen, well done ( Love the positive yet easy going way of the narration).
Dude, I didn't know about all this, thanks for the overview!
Computers console and arcade machines all use logic gates in their cpu's/gpu's etc. And, xor ,nand and so on. Logic gates are simply directing electrical signs depending on certain conditions depending on the gate. String these gates together and you have a processor. So because the fpga's gates are programmable all you have to do is to tell it to mimic say a NES's arrangement of logic gates.
There's nothing quite like LGR Fridays. Love it.
I had already purchased the analog I/O expansion board and ram module and jury-rigged/designed some 3d printed mounting components to stuff my Mister into a HP T5700 thin client case - which leaves a little to be desired but i'm otherwise more or less happy with - by the time the Mister MultiSystem was announced, so I would have a hard time justifying buying into it now. Based on this review, though, I think I would recommend this setup to anybody that showed some interest in the Mister as an easier way to get started.
Can hardly wait for mine to be delivered! Thanks for the preview!
Man, FPGAs have really been doing great things for retro gaming. I still have my old consoles, but have been loving the newer flash carts and Everdrives, and especially the FPGA stuff like the SD2SNES and MegaSD. It's great being able to play SegaCD games without having to hook up my SegaCD, or deal with the anxiety of worrying about wearing out aging disc drives and lasers. And I've been enjoying Retroarch on my PlayStation Classic, which is kind of like a Lazy Gamer's RaspberryPi. I've thought about trying a Mister set up, as like you mention, some of the emulation isn't perfect, especially with MAME, but have been kind of intimidated by the complexity, and I'm lazy. But this seems pretty cool. A shame they don't offer that woodgrain finish for everyone. Maybe I could 3D print my own case in N64-style Atomic Purple...